It sometimes feels like the business world is addicted to “solutions”. Projects are initiated to implement solutions, and teams are mobilised to deliver them. Yet, without a thorough understanding of the problem or opportunity that these ‘solutions’ are aiming to address, can we ever truly know whether we are successful? Throw in a complex stakeholder landscape where different stakeholders have very different perspectives on the problem situation and we have a perfect storm. It is easy to get in an iterative doom-loop where we keep iteratively altering the ‘solution’ but never actually meet the business need… This can be avoided with robust pre-project problem analysis. In this presentation, you will hear a concise description of a select few practical techniques that can be used to explore and define problems early in the business change lifecycle. With a better understanding of problems, we are much more likely to be able to solve them. During the presentation you will hear about techniques for: - Exploring ‘messy’ problem situations - Understanding different stakeholder perspectives - Defining what ‘success’ looks like in the context of a problem solving situation

1. ba-beyond.eu — #BABeyond19
Adrian Reed
Don’t Bring Me Solutions
Bring Me Problems !

2. Don’t Bring Me Solutions
Bring Me Problems!
Adrian Reed
adrian.reed@blackmetric.co.uk
@UKAdrianReed

4. No clear statement
of problem
Early
“solutioneering”
Key stakeholders not
engaged/involved
early enough
Inadequate
assessment of
situation & data
Some of the likely causes…
And a lot more!

5. Topics

6. What is the ‘Parking Enforcement Service’ for?

7. PQR
Do P by Q in order to contribute to achieving R
“A system to__________by__________ in order
to contribute to achieving________”
Adapted from Checkland

8. Topics

9. Problematic Situations
Difficulty Mess
Terms coined by Ackoff

10. Rich Picture

12. The problem of…..
Is affecting….
The impact of which is….
A successful solution would….
Problem Statement
What problem
are we trying to
solve? Who are our
stakeholders?
Why should we
care?
What are the
benefits? How do
we know it’s done?

13. Topics

14. Problem /
OpportunityCustomer
Financial
Internal
processes
Innovation
“Sustain”
Adapted from IIBA (2015)

15. Summary

17. • Where in your organisation are your business analysts
located ?
• How are you adding value?
• Where do you think the BA adds most value?
• How do we measure that value?
www.blackmetric.co.uk

18. Books by the speaker…

19. References
Checkland Cited in OU (n.d.). Systems practice: Managing sustainability. [online] OpenLearn.
Available at: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/computing-and-
ict/systems-computer/systems-practice-managing-sustainability/content-section-2.4.1 [Accessed
2 Sep 2018].
IIBA (2015) A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) v3, IIBA, Toronto
National Audit Office (2011) The failure of the FiReControl project [Online] Available at:
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/10121272.pdf
National Audit Office (2010) FiReControl Project [Online] Available at:
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/0910_CLG_FiReControl.pdf